Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

361 results found

Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr.

(Encyclopedia)Gore, Albert Arnold, Jr., 1948–, Vice President of the United States (1993–2001), b. Washington, D.C., grad. Harvard, 1969. After serving in the army in Vietnam and working as a reporter, he was e...

lignum vitae

(Encyclopedia)lignum vitae lĭgˈnəm vīˈtē [key] [Lat.,=wood of life], tropical American evergreen tree of the genus Guaiacum. The hard, dense, and extremely durable wood, obtained chiefly from G. officinale an...

Harris, Marvin

(Encyclopedia)Harris, Marvin, 1927–2001, American anthropologist, b. New York City, grad. Columbia (A.B., 1949; Ph.D., 1953). A member of the faculty of Columbia (1952–80), he was chairman of the anthropology d...

Gideon v. Wainwright

(Encyclopedia)Gideon v. Wainwright, case decided in 1963 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Clarence Earl Gideon was convicted of a felony in a Florida court. He had defended himself after being denied a request for free c...

Fort Myers

(Encyclopedia)Fort Myers, city (2020 pop. 86,395), seat of Lee co., SW Fla., on the Caloosahatchee River, near the Gulf of Mexico; founded 1850, inc. 1905. It has a t...

Gaines, Edmund Pendleton

(Encyclopedia)Gaines, Edmund Pendleton, 1777–1849, U.S. army officer, b. Culpeper co., Va.; brother of George Strother Gaines. He spent his boyhood in Tennessee and at the age of 22 joined the U.S. army. He surve...

Cushing, Frank Hamilton

(Encyclopedia)Cushing, Frank Hamilton, 1857–1900, American ethnologist, b. North East, Pa. He published his first scientific paper at the age of 17, and at 18 joined the American ethnology bureau at the Smithsoni...

Pinckney, Charles

(Encyclopedia)Pinckney, Charles, 1757–1824, American statesman, governor of South Carolina (1789–92, 1796–98, 1806–8), b. Charleston, S.C.; cousin of Charles C. Pinckney and Thomas Pinckney. He fought in th...

Rough Riders

(Encyclopedia)Rough Riders, popular name for the 1st Regiment of U.S. Cavalry Volunteers, organized largely by Theodore Roosevelt in the Spanish-American War (1898). Its members were mostly ranchers and cowboys fro...

truck farming

(Encyclopedia)truck farming, horticultural practice of growing one or more vegetable crops on a large scale for shipment to distant markets. It is usually less intensive and diversified than market gardening. At fi...

Browse by Subject